‘Contact DGP Karnataka for ballistics report’

The Bombay high court on Thursday directed DGP Maharashtra and director, CBI, to contact DGP Karnataka and obtain a ballistics report to see if there is a link among the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, Comrade Govind Pansare and Kannada scholar-writer M.M. Kalburgi.

A division bench of Justice R.V. More and Justice V.L. Achliya expressed surprise and directed senior police officers to obtain the ballistics report when the court was informed that Maharashtra CID, which is probing the Pansare case, and CBI, which is investigating the Dabholkar case, last year handed over bullets and empty bullet shells to Karnataka CID which is probing the Kalburgi case. The objective being to ascertain possible links between the three cases but so far, the report has not been provided to these agencies.

Advocate Abhay Negi, appearing for the family members of Dabholkar and Comrade Pansare, on Thursday claimed that as per media reports, FSL in Bengaluru had claimed that the bullets recovered from the crime spots in these three cases were fired from the same weapon. On the other hand, CBI lawyer Anil Singh and public prosecutor Sandeep Shinde (for CID) told the court that senior officers from both agencies had written to Director General of Karnataka CID for a ballistics report, but it was yet to come.

On their reply, the court asked them if the agencies were pursuing it. “How can an agency like CBI, which falls under the Centre, not procure the report We are surprised that CBI is making such a grievance. We are surprised that Karnataka CID is not cooperating with a prime agency like CBI,” observed the bench. While Dabholkar was killed in Pune in August 2013, Comrade Pansare was killed in Kolhapur last year. The court later adjourned the hearing for three weeks.